No More KBR At Joint Base Balad (JBB) AFCAP vs LOGCAP

Could it be the Air Force has finally had a belly full of KBR? Although I haven’t received official word from Secretary of the Air Force Donley, I am told by my awesome readers that KBR’s last day at Balad Air Force Base in Iraq is August 31, 2009. With the Military this probably means March 31, 2010.

Apparently Balad will now be managed under AFCAP (Air Force Contract Augmentation Program) instead of LOGCAP (Logistics Civil Augmentation Program). I am sure there are some differences but essentially I am told that AFCAP is the Air Forces equivalent of the Army’s LOGCAP. Hopefully the Air Force will do better than the Army has.

There are huge Air Force bases at Al Asad, Tallil and I believe Taqqadum (TQ) as well. Will they also transition from LOGCAP to AFCAP?

Is this the DoD’s way of ending the LOGCAP III disaster in Iraq? Just transition to AFCAP? Who is the major AFCAP contractor? Fluor?

Click HERE for a short article about AFCAP and it’s current contractors.

Have other Air Force bases in Iraq heard a similar story? Tell us what you have been told.

TQ is a Marine base and they are supposed to be leaving and the Army taking over eventually but not sure how that is going to impact things here. Will see how things go but not expecting much change really when things change.

AFCAP provides services to the Airforce, LOGCAP is army. If the Air Force is the major player then AFCAP will the contractor. Tallil has both Army and Airforce. The Airforce has there own O&M and KBR provides O&M for the Army. Depends who is the major player is who provides services AFCAP or LOGCAP. Sec of Airforce contacts you directly Ms Sparky? Then either you are well connected with Air Force. Bottom line is this Dyncorp took over most of Kuwait and they are already failing to provide services and military is serioulsy thinking about going back to KBR i know it hurts your feelings terribly but when you are having issues like Dyncorp is having according to your posting which is better of the two evils. Just Fluor in Afghanistan, KBR was given a LOTD to provided materials and man power to help Fluor. As well as they are already getting CAR’s as well in Afghanistan. Alot of people jumped ship to both Fluor and Dynacorp. When contrators take over they bring there own management team so i guess you cannot blame KBR for these mistakes LOL.

Ms Sparky’s Response:
I don’t have any feels so don’t worry about hurting them. And as far as going back to KBR do what you need to do. I have only recommended that one person (that was yesterday) not go to work for KBR. As long as KBR is taking care of soldiers we need qualified people working for them. Dyncorp and Fluor are picking up KBR managers faster than they can quit. Bruce Stanski is Fluor’s #1 guy. Jeff Uribe is Fluor’s VP of HR of all things. That still just blows my mind. Most of all I blame the DoD.

KSniper777. Apparently the issues Fluor are running into are the result of the poor work done by KBR which left a far larger mess than was supposed to have been left according to the paperwork that was pencil-whipped. Fluor and DynCorp are having troubles but it took KBR 5 years to make things this bad, it will take a few months to get things half way right once more for any contractor.

Ms Sparky’s Response:
I think one of the biggest problems is Fluor and Dyncorp are hiring former KBR mangers. The ones who are under investigation or named in a lawsuit or will be named in a lawsuit. I wonder if Fluor and Dyncorp are going to foot their legal bills. God forbid they should charge that back to the DoD. I would just flip out if, say Fluor were to foot the bill for the legal fees for one of their…..oh I don’t know…. VP’s that is named in a suit against KBR. (I’ll be blogging about this soon.)

I have been advising against hiring these managers. IMHO, KBR is not only going to destroy itself, but it’s managers could very well destroy Fluor and Dyncorp as well. This could be the “trifecta” of “former DoD contractors”.

Ms Sparky’s Response:
Thanks for clarifying that. I feel a little better. Keep an eye on my post for Thursday. I have to say, those of us that knew of Uribe when he worked for KBR are stunned speechless that he is in HR for anybody.

FYI KSniper777 – DynCorp took over ALL of Kuwait and are doing just fine. In fact, the success of the Kuwait and UAAF TOs, in spite of all the chaos KBR tried to create throughout the entire transition, proved to the USG once and for all that the transition from LOGCAP III to LOGCAP IV and a contractor other than KBR could and will be done.
Bringing KBR back to Kuwait is the farthest thing from the USG’s mind. Getting them out of Afghanistan is next…then Iraq.

Ms Sparky’s Response:
Thanks for that update. I am getting quite a fe complaints the Dyncorp employees are not being paid on time. Can you shed some light on this?

Fluor has hired a bunch of former KBR supers and foremans…same ole same ole..with better pay.
Fluor just lost the souhern region in afgh due to CARS by a certain col. lso who has it in for fluor……..either way.fluor got what thay wanted….o&M in the north…TO 05,….74 bases/fob’s..prob get re-up on TO 04 when Dec. contract expires.face it.there is a circuit of expats with improper training, who train ocn’s , tcn’s lc’s………

fluor has major comms and logs problems @ KAF..that flows down from Greenville..DCMA,JOKE of ALL….

Ms Sparky’s Response:
Thanks for this info. Someone had told me that Fluor got a Level IV CAR in Afghanistan. I couldn’t verify that so I haven’t blogged it. Could that possible be true and then they get a major LOGCAP IV Task Order.

And just so I know what what you are saying for sure…what does OCN stand for?

The CAR was at camp in the TK ao. Where the Fluor electritian let the local laborers wire the camp with local wiring with no ground supplied. DCMA gave them the CAR for the fact it was not up to American Electrical code and they were forced to rewire the entire camp. BTW in this camp alone Flour had 3 formans quit in the last 6 months.

Ms Sparky’s Response:
I don’t know where “TK ao” is in Afghanistan. Can you spell it out for me. What’s the name of the camp? What level was the CAR? I would love to get a copy of that CAR. Thanks for the info.

Synopsis
AFCAP is a contingent tool to provide U.S. government personnel with a force multiplier by leveraging use of the commercial sector in meeting urgent mission requirements.

What is AFCAP?
AFCAP is a contingent contract tool for use by U.S. Government organizations needing contingency assistance. It has pre-qualified vendors, assessable via cost reimbursement task orders, providing cost effective, responsive solutions to meet urgent realities of today. It’s designed to provide rapid design/construction, service contracts and/or logistics/commodity solutions and is available for contingency situations. Depending on urgency, degree of requirements definition or task stability, contracts can be tailored into firm-fixed-price, cost-plus fixed fee or cost-plus award fee task orders.

“Who” is AFCAP?
There are five key players; 1) the customer (any U.S. government entity, NATO or Coalition partner); 2) MAJCOM civil engineer or director of services (for all Air Force customers); 3) AFCAP program managers; 4) AFCAP contracting officers; and 5) the five AFCAP contractors (CH2M Hill, DynCorp, Readiness Management Support, URS & Washington Group). AFCAP customers provide on-site contract administration, technical expertise, quality assurance and task order surveillance. MAJCOM civil engineers/directors of services provide resource advocacy, appropriate programming and guidance on execution method for task completion. The AFCESA program managers work as an interface between customers and AFCAP contracting officers to solidify requirements available under this contract.

What does AFCAP do for its customers?
AFCAP is the right choice to satisfy increased support requirements and sustain forward locations facing extended operational life. The AFCAP contract has provided continuity. Since 1997, AFCAP has provided everything from air traffic controllers to WRM equipment augmentation, power plants, and even rock quarry operations. For civil engineers, products and services can include planning and design; infrastructure and facility construction, operation, maintenance, sustainment, revitalization, reconstitution, restoration, and disaster recovery; and more. With few exceptions, AFCAP can perform any task expected from a Civil Engineer, Services or RED HORSE squadron.

What can’t AFCAP do?
Under Air Force policy, the initial response and force beddown for military operations or exercise scenarios with training value are not to be contracted. Public law limits contracted support for CONUS fire crash rescue to only circumstances where a shortfall is caused by military deployments. Contracted EOD for military ordnance support can be for range-clearance operations only. AFCAP is not allowed to run mortuary operations (government reserved) or operate field exchanges (money-generating activity).

Balad is under AFCAP contract. More sites are to follow in January and February. This means every AFCAP employee has to have a secret security clearance and they do check your work references and criminal background. The government writes the job description and performs the security background check. If your applying for a financial position they will check your credit and IRS tax status.

This means 90% of KBR,DynCorp,Fluor employees would not be eligible for employment. Finally, we might get what we pay for and the soldiers get what they deserve. Time to clean house say good-bye Iraq and hello Leesville.

I worked for RMS under two AFCAP contracts from 2004-2006, one at Taji and the second at Camp Victory. I enjoyed my work because it gave me a chance to support our Troops. Both camps I worked on were mostly Army. I never understood that, but it is true.

I need answers. I am about to resign from a 1year contract with RMS in Qatar because management here sucks and is unsupportive of my religious convictions and previous AA (I’m working in a Bar in AUAB). I want to leave the Job here, but they’re saying I must pay for my own ticket home. Don’t believe this is right since they flew me over here. Was told by senior employees they were BSing me and I believe it. I need answers. Don’t tarry, answer ASAP please.